Heavens of Brass

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Once in a while we hear Christians say, “When I pray, the heavens seem made of brass.” It’s an expression that comes out of the King James Version of Deuteronomy 28:23. God is comparing and contrasting obedience with disobedience, detailing the blessings that come with one and the curses with the other. In verse 23 he’s describing the curse of failing crops: “The heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.”

He’s telling them that if they refuse to obey, he won’t answer their prayers for rain. From this reference the phrase “heavens of brass” came to mean silence from God.

Most of us nod our heads, having experienced the frustration of unanswered prayer. Why would the Lord purposely withhold guidance? What valid reason could there be for such coldness toward us?

Actually, there are several:

  • When God seems cold, it’s then that we want to warm up to him.
  • When he’s silent, we call to him more frequently and with greater intensity.
  • When we can’t hear him, we listen more carefully for his still small voice.
  • When we aren’t getting his half of the conversation, we crave his counsel all the more and realize advice from others just isn’t good enough.

….all good things.

But what if we’re faced with a decision and he won’t tell us what to do? Are we supposed to just roll the dice or close our eyes and point? What do we do when the deadline is upon us and he hasn’t answered yet?

Sometimes I’m helped by thinking of God’s guidance like a GPS. I depend on “Lee’s” GPS voice to let me know which road decision to make, just before I get to the intersection. Key words? “Just before.”

God does that, too. He may be silent as a deadline looms, despite promising to direct us. We cry out for instruction, and it doesn’t come. “Which choice, Lord? Help!”

One of two things will happen. Either he’ll let us know exactly what to do in the nick of time, or he’ll expect us to make no new moves but to continue as we have been. With my GPS, Lee doesn’t say a word if I’m supposed to continue going straight. As my wise daughter Linnea says, “When you don’t know what to do, think back to the last time God put you on a specific path. Until you hear something different, stay put.”

God may get quiet for a time, but his heavens are never made of brass. He’s continually hearing us and is closer than we realize. And though we think he’s silent, he’s actually still speaking, inviting us to continue calling to him in expectancy, holding out hope that when the time is just right, we’ll hear from him.

“Come close to God, and God will come close to you.” (James 4:8)

A Word or Two

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Birgitta loves to read. Board books captivated her before she was a year old, and in her preschool years, if we couldn’t find her, she was cuddled up with a book somewhere. She began to read at four and could read almost anything by six.

Words interested her, and she enjoyed putting them together into sentences. Before long she was writing short stories, illustrating them herself, and I have a file cabinet full of these treasures. God gifted her with not only a rich creative side but the desire to use it.

She’s always had a natural interest in words, their definitions, and their pronunciations, looking up the ones she didn’t know. Some of this was inherited from her father, who often read Webster’s Dictionary for pleasure, annotating the margins.

In 40 years of marriage I never asked Nate what a word meant that he didn’t have the correct answer, which included the history of the word, too.

Maybe Birgitta’s love of words came to her through her genes, but she also grew up in a home where reading was a respected pastime and vocabulary questions peppered dinner table conversation.

Hitch-hiking on that love of words and books, her sister Louisa hosted a bring-a-book baby shower for one month old Emerald last weekend. Watching Birgitta open the childhood favorites of 20-some guests was to watch her light up with pleasure at each new title.

Little Emerald now has her very own shelf in the room we lovingly call our library, a prize the value of which she will soon begin to realize. It’ll be Birgitta’s delight to read these stories aloud to her, and surely Emerald will become a book lover just like her mother.

On the other side of our little library is a wall of shelves, part of which is filled with Bibles, commentaries, and biblical reference helps. Since most of my Bible reading and studying is now done online, those hard copies have gathered dust, which makes me feel bad. How many Christians in this world would give anything to have access to such treasure but can’t, either because Christian books are illegal, or expensive, or just hard to find.

But as I look at those dusty books I hear the Lord say, “Margaret, don’t stress about that. As long as you’re drawn to my Word and to Me, the form doesn’t matter.”

So I ask myself, am I enthusiastically gravitating toward Scripture and its Author on a daily basis? Or do I have a take-it-or-leave-it point of view?

Words and books are treasures, with God’s Word, the Bible, the optimum one. Thankfully Emerald’s personal library shelf includes several titles that represent these optimum riches, and hopefully she’ll love to hear their stories, again and again.

“Follow my advice… Always treasure my commands… Guard my instructions… Write them deep within your heart.” (Proverbs 7:1-3)

 

That’s news to me!

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We’ve all heard the expression, “No news is good news.” In other words, since bad news travels fast, no new news probably means there’s no bad news, since that would come before good news, which then assumes all the news we haven’t yet heard is good. Whew!

Both good and bad news can take us by surprise, which is great with good news and awful with bad. When bad news does come, our responses tell a great deal about us. Do we panic? Despair? Jump to extreme conclusions?

As Christians we ought to be able to monitor our reactions by way of biblical truth. Believing that God travels with us through every bad-news-situation and that he won’t allow us to come into more than we can handle should be enough to stave off negative responses, but sometimes it just isn’t.

Eight weeks ago I got some bad news in the form of a secret from one of my kids. Katy and Hans called from England to ask for prayer about a serious matter, and I was more than happy to do so. Going into God’s throne room with my children is one of life’s highest privileges and a great way to sidestep anxiety.

Today I’m happy to report the Lord answered our prayers as we’d hoped, and the new news that wasn’t meant to be broadcast 8 weeks ago can now be joyfully told far and wide: Katy and Hans will welcome baby #4 in May!

But what about those times when news that comes to us is all bad and a rescue or change doesn’t occur? What if God chooses to let the bad stuff stand? What if our baby had miscarried?

I believe bad news is God-given opportunity to exercise our faith muscles. It’s a chance to prove to ourselves and him what we really think. Do we trust him like we say we do? Do we believe he acts on our prayers? Do we accept that he still loves us when the bad news is really bad?

If we can answer yes, then bad news shouldn’t throw us. So why does it? Maybe because we don’t have a pre-news strategy in place ahead of time. For example, we could determine that whenever bad news comes, we won’t speak until after asking God to control our words. Or we could tell ourselves we’ll search for blessings in the news. Or we could express quick thanks that God will walk with us through it.

Those responses are far better than fear or anguish. After all, much of what we first hear in a bad-news flash isn’t usually accurate, and the extremes we dread don’t often happen.

And once in a while, the news that looks all bad changes into something really wonderful…. like a brand new grandbaby!

The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name… I will be with them in trouble…. I will rescue and honor them.” (Psalm 91:14-15)